My Report on New Orleans and the Gulf Coast of Mississippi

I'm on The President's Council for Service and Civic Participation.  Our mission is to recognize outstanding volunteer service on the part of organizations and individuals.  The Council and the Board of The Corporation for National & Community Service trecently completed a three-day tour of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast.

I want to say that it was one of the most impactful three days I've ever spent anywhere.  There are a lot of things going wrong and a lot of things going right.  Although there were enough stories for 10 books, I want to highlight those items that I feel are most important here in my blog.

Overall Impression:  I have never seen such breadth and depth of devastation.  New Orleans was particularly unbelievable.  We visited the 9th Ward and I personally don't believe it will recover any time in the next 10 years.  Maybe longer.  Additionally, the amount of reaction and clean-up is significantly behind that of Mississippi.  I think there are a number of reasons for that, but I explore them in a separate blog entry.  Here are a few photos that don't  even come close to conveying the extent of the damage.




Mixed in with my awe at the complete devestation is an unbelievable pride in the American people that are volunteering everything they have to help fellow Americans in need.  It is truly inspiring to see the volunteer effort in both New Orleans and Mississippi.  Here are a few shots of the different organizations that we recognized on the trip and that are doing amazing things for people that were affected.








Young, old, rich, poor, you name it...they are there.  People showed up to help in the recovery effort for three days and have been there for five months.  Story after story after story of amazing compassion and outreach by hundreds of thousands of individuals (over 500,000 have contributed their TIME since Katrina) and they need more.  A LOT MORE.  On the Council's website, we list out the different organizations that you can volunteer with and they are listed by state.  If any of you are interested in getting involved, here are just a few of the programs that we saw and officially recognized for their oustanding efforts and I would recommend:

1.  Trinity Christian Community Americorps (New Orleans).  Based in one of the poorest neighborhoods in New Orleans, TCC has focused on cleaning and repairing homes and working with a network of service entities to provide disadvantaged community members with relocation, home repair, volunteer recruitment and assimilating returning evacuees.  Kevin Brown, program director, is particularly inspirational.

2.  Tulane Americorps VISTA (New Orleans).  Tulane's Center for Public Service is actually institutionalizing a "service-learning" component into their curriculum.  The project aims to both increase the impact of service-learning on students' civic engagement and to build capacity in participating community agencies.  GREAT PROGRAM!

3.  Xavier (New Orleans).  Xavier is also creating internal programs to bring in a service component as well as partnering with other universities to bring volunteers into New Orleans.

4.  Mississippi Commission for Volunteer Service (Mississippi).  An amazing organization with great leadership and execution.  The mission of the Mississippi Commission for Volunteer Service is to engage and support Mississippians of all ages and backgrounds in service to their communities.

5.  National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) (National).  To put it mildly, this organization ROCKS!  The mission of AmeriCorps*NCCC is to strengthen communities and develop leaders through direct, team-based national and community service. In partnership with nonprofit organizations, state and local agencies, and faith-based and other community organizations, members complete service projects throughout the region they are assigned.  Drawn from the successful models of the Civilian Conservation Corps of the 1930s and the U.S. military, AmeriCorps*NCCC is built on the belief that civic responsibility is an inherent duty of all citizens and that national service programs work effectively with local communities to address pressing needs.  If you want to serve your country but don't want to be in the military, DO THIS!  All the same leadership skills that are developed in the military of which I write about in my book, TAKE COMMAND, are also developed in this program.

6.  HandsOn Network (Mississippi).  Their mission is to organize long-term rebuilding efforts.  This group is awesome.  Basically, all a volunteer needs to do is get there and HandsOn Network will figure how best to utilize them, give them food and a place to sleep.  Truly inspiring group. 

7.  KaBoom (National).  Get this, they build playgrounds in the Gulf Coast to help give the neighborhood a nice place for their kids and a place to meet.  They've been amazingly successful and usually work in conjunction with other local volunteer organizations.

8.  Habitat for Humanity (National).  They are doing some fantastic work in New Orleans.  New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity is mobilizing for an unprecedented rebuilding effort.  In 2006, NOAHH plans on building hundreds of new homes in Orleans, Jefferson, Plaquemines, and St. Bernard Parishes.

I hope this blog entry gets you more interested in learning about what's going on with Katrina recovery because it is only just beginning!

TAKE COMMAND!

Kelly